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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

I am glad to be part of the review tour of The Hotter You Burn by Gena Showalter! I was very happy when I was picked to feature the book and the author. The tour is organized by HQN Books and by Rock Star PR and Literary Consulting and by the author.

My post is going to include a review, information about the book and the author and also an excerpt. Let's start with the review!

Title: The Hotter You Burn
Author: Gena Showalter
Series: The Original Heartbreakers (can be read as standalone)
Publisher: HQN Books
Publishing date: 28th of July 2015
Pages: 384 pages
Genre: Adult: Contemporary, Romance
Source: Received an ARC from publisher in exchange for an honest review

Summary:

New
York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter is back with a sizzling Original
Heartbreakers tale featuring a troubled playboy and the woman he can’t resist…

Beck
Ockley is ruthless in the boardroom...and the bedroom. He's never been with the
same woman twice, and vows he never will. With a past as twisted as his,
meaningless sex keeps the demons at bay. His motto: One and done. No harm, no
foul.

Harlow
Glass is the most hated girl in town. The beautiful artist is penniless,
jobless and homeless. When she sneaks into Beck's home—her ancestral estate—for
food, she's shocked by his early return...and her immediate, sizzling and
intense attraction to him.

For the
first time in Beck's life, he can't get a woman out of his mind. All too soon,
friendship blooms into obsession and he'll have to break her heart...or
surrender his own.

My review:

I loved this book! It's a second book written by Gena Showalter that I have read and I truly enjoyed it! The Hotter You Burn is well-written, easy and fun to read and has some adorable characters! I have to admit that I have fallen in love with Gena's writing style. The dialogue is funny and quirky, the characters relatable and interesting and the story flows and the pacing is great! She is genuinly a fascinating and gripping storyteller. I read the book practically in one sitting and couldn't put it down, it was a true page-turner for me.

The story is about Harlow and Beck. Harlow is a reformed high-school bully who has paid heavy price for her actions. Living in a small town the forgiveness from others is very slow to come. She is homeless, jobless and without a penny. she lives in a tent on the grounds on Beck's house. The house, which used to be her family's. beck is a sucessful business owner whose relationships to women is one-and-done. I loved the beginning of the story when they meet, it was both funny and a bold start of the book. Harlow is breaking in to Beck's house and getting caught while stealing a pie. From that scene onwards I was sold!

Beck is very attracted to Harlow but he tries to convince himself that she isn't for him. He even goes that far, that he decides to find her a decent boyfriend! He can't get her out of his head though. Harlow has to fac a lot of enemity from everyone who lives in the town, but she tries and she tries hard. There were moments in the book where I thought: come on girl, move to a bigger place and start a new life, but harlow is persistant and that is one of the things I admired about her. She wasn't a dormat, she had a lot of backbone and walked through the difficulties with her head held up and with feistiness that I adored.

I think the best part of the book were the dialogues, the characters and the huumor in it. Despite dealing with some heavy issues the characters are facing, the book has a positive taste, there is hope and happy endings and I enjoyed it a lot!

Definately a good and entertaining and romantic book to read! I highly recommend it! And as said, I love Gena's writing! Can't wait to the next book in the series!

5 stars!

Thanks goes to the HQN books and to Rock Star PR and Literary Consulting for providing me with the review copy1 And please, do read the excerpt, you will get a great example of what is waiting for you in the book!

THE HOTTER YOU BURN

GENA SHOWALTER

$7.99 U.S./$8.99 CAN.

ISBN-13: 978-0-373-77969-7

ON SALE 7/28/15

About the author:

GENA SHOWALTER

Gena Showalter is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author whose
works have appeared in Cosmopolitan and
Seventeen magazines, as well as Entertainment Weekly. Her novel Red Handed has been optioned by Sony
Television. Critics have called her books “sizzling page-turners” and “utterly
spellbinding stories,” while Showalter herself has been called “a star on the
rise.” Her mix of humor, danger and wickedly hot sex provides wildly sensual
page-turners sure to enthrall.

“Oh, no.” Beck merely tightened
his hold. “We’re going to have a glass of sweet tea while you two crazy kids
get to know each other better.”

Harlow anchored her hands on her
hips. “You know what? You’re right. We are going to
get to know each other. But your presence is unnecessary, Beck. Leave.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“We don’t need—”

He cut her off, whispering, “If
you and West get married and live happily ever after, you’ll have to get used
to having me around.”

She snapped her mouth shut, then
lifted her chin and grumbled, “That’s a very sad point.” She flashed a
too-bright smile at West and eased into the chair Jase had vacated. “I’m game
if you are.”

Beck vibrated with irritation as
he carried a pitcher of tea and three glasses to the table and settled between
the pair. “My girl here has certain ideas about the kind of man she wants to
end up with,” he explained, “and I’d like to know if the two of you are
compatible.”

Understanding dawned on West’s
features, a smile nearly breaking free. He cleared his throat and donned his
most uncaring expression. “Sure. Whatever.”

Beck poured the tea, handed out the
glasses, and Harlow clutched hers as if it were a lifeline.

“Kick us off, sweet pea,” he
said. “Tell my good buddy Lincoln—that’s his first name, in case you didn’t
know—a little about yourself.”

“Well.” There was a slight tremor
in her voice. “I’m twenty-six, and I’ve never been married.”

“Would you like a medal?” West
muttered, while staring down at his cell phone, playing one of the games he’d
created.

She glared at Beck, but he merely
arched a brow.

Don’t make plans with men you don’t know.

“Yes, actually, I would
like a medal, considering I’m hot but don’t realize it, which makes me even
hotter.” The tremor had vanished, the snotty attitude firmly in its place. “It’s
a miracle no one’s snatched me up. But then, most men are idiots, so…”

West smiled, realized his mistake,
and glowered at his screen.

Beck braced elbows on the table.
“You’re suggesting outward beauty is all that matters.”

“Hardly. My personality is hot,
too. But Beck, darling.” Sugary-sweet tone now. Too sweet. “You aren’t part of
this get-to-know-you session, even though you insist on being a total third
wheel, so do us all a favor and zip your stupid lips.”

Then, she dismissed him. Looking
to West, she traced her fingertips over the collar of her shirt, so feminine Beck’s
every masculine instinct growled, hungry for the next meal. “So. Lincoln. How
old are you?”

West played the video game a
little longer before deigning to answer. “I’m twenty-eight, but I’ve got the
stamina of an eighty-year-old coma victim. Horrible lover. Even worse cuddler.”

“Well, those skills can be
taught,” she said, reaching over to caress his shoulder. “Anyway, you’re quite
young to be so successful. It’s impressive.”

It was
impressive. Beck wasn’t sure where he would have ended up without the guy.

West shrugged. “I work hard,” he
said, then added, “probably too hard. I tend to ignore the people in my life. Especially
women.”

“Well, I understand how taxing
such a busy work schedule can be, and I commend you for it.” She gave his
shoulder another caress, and Beck almost jerked the two apart. “I hope the
lucky ladies in your life are as understanding as I am.”

“I guess,” West said and shrugged
again.

“Wow, just look at these muscles,
West. You are amazingly strong, aren’t you?” She cast another narrowed glance
Beck’s way, presumably to make sure he was watching as she scooted her chair
closer to West’s. “You know,” she said, the tip of her finger toying with the
rim of West’s glass. When she caught a bead of condensation, she brought it to
her lips and sucked, causing Beck’s groin to twitch behind his zipper. “I have
a skill of my own, but it’s quite naughty.”

West glanced up, phone forgotten.
“Do tell.”

“Yes. Do.” Beck simmered with renewed
anger—even more desire. He smoothed a lock of hair from Harlow’s face. One touch,
but he was greedy for more.

Her breath caught, but she leaned
away from him, getting closer and closer to West, until her mouth was poised at
the shell of his ear. In a husky voice low enough to be considered a whisper
but loud enough for Beck to overhear, she said, “I’m super good
at parking.”

Stick a fork in me.I’m
done. Done with the conversation. Done
with watching the object of his obsession doing her rock-solid best to arouse
another male. “West doesn’t need to hear about that. Let’s go—”

“Even boys from two counties over
dreamed of making out with me in the backseat of their trucks,” she continued
with an effortless sensuality. “I’m very bendy.”

Beck slammed his glass on the
table, tea sloshing over the sides of the rim. “Harlow here is looking to
settle down forever,” he barked. “She thinks you’d make an awesome groom.”

“Marriage?” West sneered with
distaste. “Me? Hell, no. Never.”

“He’s all for others tying the
knot, but when it comes to himself he thinks the NewlywedGame
should be called the Dig Your Own Grave game,” Beck explained, relaxing now
that the conversation had taken a new direction.

Harlow unveiled a brittle smile.
“Maybe you just haven’t met the right person, Lincoln. You don’t mind if I call
you Lincoln, do you?”

“Call me whatever you like, but I
have
met the right person.” His voice cracked. “She died.” He stood, his chair
skidding behind him, and strode out of the kitchen.

Harlow rounded on Beck, all hint
of supple, willing female gone. “I hope you’re happy with yourself. You did
this.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” The words were
nothing more than a hiss. “You wanted me to know I can’t win the affections of
anyone else, that I’m stuck with you, destined to be your newest conquest.”

“Stuck with me?” he snarled.

“Yeah, that’s right. You aren’t
the prize you think you are, Beck Ockley, but maybe West is. Maybe he’s worth
fighting for. Maybe, unlike you, he has a heart and the ability to care for
someone other than himself.”

“I have a heart. I care.”

She didn’t seem to hear him,
plowing ahead. “You know, there are plenty of guys in town. Why focus all my
efforts on just one? I’m sure lots of guys would like a chance to
get to know the new me. I can bring them back to my RV—”

“My RV.”

“—and practice being married,
just the way you suggested.”

Beck would burn the RV to ash
first.

Too far gone to fight his sense
of possession, he hooked his foot around the bottom of her chair and forced her
chair closer, closer still. Their thighs touched, and she gasped, perhaps at
the force he’d used, perhaps with a desire of her own.

He grabbed her by the waist and
easily hefted her onto the table, on his feet and between her legs a second
later, glaring down at her.

“I want you, and it’s past time I
showed you how much. You’ll keep your sweet ass parked on
this table and you’ll show me your skills. Me. No one else.” And
then his hand was cupping the back of her neck, drawing her forward.

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